"TN" wrote in message
...
I am in the process of building a 3000 SQFT house that my builder spec'ed
for two zone heat. He called my yesterday and said after he met with his
mechanicals subcontractor that two zones were probably not enough since the
room over the mudroom and the room over garage were (I guess) to far away
from the furnace to be efficiently heated. He was suggesting we add a heat
pump for those two rooms (with AC of course).


Wouldn't a larger BTU furnace do the job? Our contract specified two zone
heat, is this something I should have to pay extra for or would this be
his cost.
Thanks in adavance for any advice you have.

Talk to another mechanical contractor. We can't see the layout of the rooms
so it is not possible to give sound advice. You mention furnace. Is it
going to be hot air heat? If so, distribution may be a problem in those
areas and not very efficient. You also will need a huge furnace heating up
when only two rooms need the heat. There are losses there. Potential big
loss.

Do you mean a boiler with zoned hot water? Easier to distribute, but still
some losses along the way.

Get another opinion. As for cost, there will be a line in there for heat.
Dropping those rooms from the original plan will offset some, but probably
not all, of the heat pump cost. Not having read your contract, I don't
know if it is a variable or not.